Maximising the range on the battery?

[hvaghela]

Hi everyone

I picked up my PHEV last week - a red Gx4h - I'm loving it!!!
The dealer gave me his experience on driving PHEVs and how to maximise the range on the battery after a full charge. He said
1, Drive in ECO mode
2, put the Braking level to B5
3, keep the AC and heater use to a minimum
4, don't use the charge button near the gear stick, and
5, Only charge the battery when the range is Zero.

What do others think of this?
Does anyone else have some advice for a Newbie to maximise the number of miles I get on the battery and minimise the use of petrol.

 

[zzcoopej]

1, Drive in ECO mode

Agree

2, put the Braking level to B5

Mostly, although B0 "hypermiling" is also beneficial if traffic conditions allow.

3, keep the AC and heater use to a minimum

Agree. Also, heated seats use much less power than dash heater as you are like an "egg in a frying pan" instead of trying to "cook an egg with a blowdryer".

4, don't use the charge button near the gear stick

"SAVE" should be used when you are driving on freeways IF there will be slow section afterwards.
"CHARGE" is useful when towing a trailer and other rare occasions.

5, Only charge the battery when the range is Zero.

Disagree. Don't get obsessed with charging, however charge whenever its convenient. Charging frequently won't ruin your battery, however try to time your charging just prior to driving the PHEV as leaving it fully charged is not great for the battery and you lose about 2% of battery charge (about 1/2km) in the first 12 hours after charging.

Does anyone else have some advice

Check your tyre pressure regularly.
Don't carry around unnecessary luggage etc.
Enjoy your PHEV! Its a really great SUV.

 

[HHL]

Hi everyone

I picked up my PHEV last week - a red Gx4h - I'm loving it!!!
The dealer gave me his experience on driving PHEVs and how to maximise the range on the battery after a full charge. He said
1, Drive in ECO mode
2, put the Braking level to B5
3, keep the AC and heater use to a minimum
4, don't use the charge button near the gear stick, and
5, Only charge the battery when the range is Zero.

What do others think of this?
Does anyone else have some advice for a Newbie to maximise the number of miles I get on the battery and minimise the use of petrol.

on the other hand, you can just get in and drive it....
It really makes little difference in practice what you do, except for the heater and aircon, nothing affects the range all that much

 

[greendwarf]

Point 5

I always get a higher range figure after charging from "zero" rather than mid battery. I suspect it is because you will have driven more cautiously (i.e. economically) as the charge bottomed out rather than any real technical advantage. After all it is only a "guesstimate" and so will be influenced by your last journey.

 

[elm70]

I still have to see more then 35km range after full charge.

Anyhow .. speed is also a big range impacting ... at 120km/h almost the max speed in EV mode, the car possible consume 3 or 4 times then energy per km compared to 60km/h ... so .. for have the longest range I guess car should not be driven more then 50 or 60km/h

When the battery is getting low .. EV mode is disabled for speed over 65km/h ... and there must be other threshold tool .. driving at 120km/h with only 6km left of range .. I have seen ICE to kick in.

More then range .. the most annoying thing is the ICE kick in , if the foot on the gas pedal is not fully gentle on the push ... it would be really nice to be able to floor the gas pedal in ECO modo, and be sure ICE will never kick in

PS: Temperature can also play a role ... I have seen range to top up 5km ... after keeping the car parked ... just because the outside temperature jump from +4 to +14 between morning and afternoon

 

[endsofinvention]

I still have to see more then 35km range after full charge.

Mine says 26 mile (~41km) range after charging, as long as the AC/heater is off. Turning that on drops it by 5-6 miles.

 

[ChrisMiller]

it would be really nice to be able to floor the gas pedal in ECO modo, and be sure ICE will never kick in

Any vehicle should deliver max power if you 'floor it' - it could be the only way of avoiding a collision. There is a 'kick down' step and if you install the magic box from Vtech (I haven't) it will stay in electric power while in 'Eco' mode unless you pass that point.

 

[elm70]

Mine says 26 mile (~41km) range after charging, as long as the AC/heater is off. Turning that on drops it by 5-6 miles.

Thanks ... I guess that for know if my battery is good or bad .. I will need to invest few "coins" into the android apps that have advanced monitoring over OBD2

Any vehicle should deliver max power if you 'floor it' - it could be the only way of avoiding a collision. There is a 'kick down' step and if you install the magic box from Vtech (I haven't) it will stay in electric power while in 'Eco' mode unless you pass that point.

Yes .. but what is the advantage of floor it, if you have to wait half second before ICE start to deliver any power ?

Vtech tool, helps .. but it is not ideal either.

I know mercedes in their PHEV have made a "feedback" on the gas pedal . it has an extra resistance in the middle of the pushing .. so people feel when their "floor" the EV power .. and need a bit more push for activate the ICE and get more power .. that is a possible solution.

Still .. I don't see point of having an ECO mode .. and allow only 1 cm of throttle control in EV mode ... for me .. people should be able to floor and get full EV power (in theory for an instant need they could rise from 60kw to 70kw or even 100kw from battery .. it will be not an issue to have more then 60kw from battery for few seconds ... as well EV motors are rated 120kw (60+60) ... if people keep fully pressed the gas for more then 1 or 2 seconds .. the car should beep .. advise that in the next 1 second ICE will start ... using more then 60kw from battery will make the experience proper ... with an immediate acceleration without any delay

Anyhow ... this is the 1st hybrid from Mitsubishi ... I guess they are still learning ... 2017 version for sure has a mayor update here ... unfortunately .. I don't think our ECU will be updated for get a smarter software ... our only home is Vtech ...

 

[geoffshep69]

Point 5

I always get a higher range figure after charging from "zero" rather than mid battery. I suspect it is because you will have driven more cautiously (i.e. economically) as the charge bottomed out rather than any real technical advantage. After all it is only a "guesstimate" and so will be influenced by your last journey.

Can't say I have noticed any difference in projected range figure depending on whether I charge from zero or from half full. But as you rightly say, its only a guess so is not particularly relevant anyway. Unless there is any evidence that the actual range achieved is different when charging from zero then I'd say ignore the dealer's advice and just charge up whenever you can (unless you already have a virtually full battery, as I understand charging in that scenario may impact battery life ?)

 

[elm70]

Can't say I have noticed any difference in projected range figure depending on whether I charge from zero or from half full. But as you rightly say, its only a guess so is not particularly relevant anyway. Unless there is any evidence that the actual range achieved is different when charging from zero then I'd say ignore the dealer's advice and just charge up whenever you can (unless you already have a virtually full battery, as I understand charging in that scenario may impact battery life ?)

Charging on the J1772 will never arm the battery.

If the battery is full, the car will not overcharge the battery anyhow ... using J1772 ... it is always under the car charger control.

Only Chademo allow a direct connection to the battery from external system, and it has a different type of control.

Anyhow .. charging the battery from J1772 is always at relative slow rate, that get even slower at the end of charging when battery is close to be full

What arm the Lithium batteries are keeping these fully charge for long time

In the Tesla with huge battery pack, it make sense to keep the battery between 60 and 40 % for daily commute .. but in this PHEV we don't really have this luxory.

Still if the car has to be left for weeks without usage ... or if usage is very seldom .. better keep the battery below 50% (that is less then 50% on the dash board in the outloander) .. and then charge the battery only before need

It is as well bad to keep for long the car fully discharged .. especially if WiFi is on .. since this will bring the battery charge level way below to the 26% of charge that is the "ideal" lowest discharge level for the battery

 

[ChrisMiller]

It will take quite a while for the WiFi (power of a few mW) to discharge the main battery. If you're going to leave the car standing for several months, there are probably other things you should worry about first.

 

[anko]

Vtech tool, helps .. but it is not ideal either.

I know mercedes in their PHEV have made a "feedback" on the gas pedal . it has an extra resistance in the middle of the pushing .. so people feel when their "floor" the EV power .. and need a bit more push for activate the ICE and get more power .. that is a possible solution.

You may not be aware of it, but our cars have the exact same feedback in the gas pedal as the Mercedes apparently does. The only thing is, it is not set up to stop the ICE from running. The PHEVbox can be configured to deliver close to the maximum available battery power (like 55 kW out of 60) when the pedal is depressed to that feedback point point. Also, it eliminates the cars response to fast depressing of the gas pedal, so the engine does not start when you sneeze while exiting a roundabout. Takes a little getting used to, but after that, it works extremely well.

When I take of from a traffic light and push the pedal to the feedback point, you will see the power needle travel along the green part of the scale in a steady pace (with increasing speed) and then magically freeze just before hitting the white part of the scale. And it will stay there, no matter how fast you drive. Only when you push the pedal past the feedback point, the needle will enter the white zone.

But let's not forget, these solutions may minimise range, rather than maximise range, as they allow you to drive much more dynamically (less energy efficient) without risking unintended ICE start ups.

Do you have a PHEVbox from Vtechtuning installed yourself?

 

[elm70]

You may not be aware of it, but our cars have the exact same feedback in the gas pedal as the Mercedes apparently does. The only thing is, it is not set up to stop the ICE from running. The PHEVbox can be configured to deliver close to the maximum available battery power (like 55 kW out of 60) when the pedal is depressed to that feedback point point. Also, it eliminates the cars response to fast depressing of the gas pedal, so the engine does not start when you sneeze while exiting a roundabout. Takes a little getting used to, but after that, it works extremely well.

When I take of from a traffic light and push the pedal to the feedback point, you will see the power needle travel along the green part of the scale in a steady pace (with increasing speed) and then magically freeze just before hitting the white part of the scale. And it will stay there, no matter how fast you drive. Only when you push the pedal past the feedback point, the needle will enter the white zone.

But let's not forget, these solutions may minimise range, rather than maximise range, as they allow you to drive much more dynamically (less energy efficient) without risking unintended ICE start ups.

Do you have a PHEVbox from Vtechtuning installed yourself?

I never feel any resistance on the gas pedal ... and there is absolutely no resistance for protect from kick in ICE, like the Merc PHEV does

Nope, no Vtech box ... I'm waiting for his OBD2 tuning box ... I'm way more interested on his first demo, with 70Kw and pure EV mode

Hopefully he will allow us this OSB2 and Apps to set different parameters , like recharge energy (I would like to have B5 more strong) ... EV power from battery .. max discharge level .. etc

I hope he will come up soon with this "tuning" .. gas pedal hack .. is "ok" .. but I want "more"

 

[jaapv]

Actually, the kick-down point is very clear.

 

[zzcoopej]

I know mercedes in their PHEV have made a "feedback" on the gas pedal . it has an extra resistance in the middle of the pushing .. so people feel when their "floor" the EV power

Actually the Mitsubishi iMiEV (which a lot of the components of the PHEV are based on) has this "lump" in the accelerator which is only active when you put the "gear" shifter into "Eco" (it has 3 forward settings, "Drive", "Eco" and "Brake"). So in the iMiEV in "Eco" it feels like you've floored the accelerator about 1/2 way down, but if you really need it you can push past this "lump". They could have easily transferred this feature into the PHEV, however I suspect some marketing type decided it was not user friendly. What a pity.

 

[anko]

I must admit, I was not aware of it either, before I had the PHEVbox installed. When Vtechtuning told me there was a kick down point (he installed the box in my car himself) at first, I did not believe him. And I failed to 'hit' it at first. But after a few tries and seeing the effect on the power needle, I learned to find it. And now, it comes natural

 

[elm70]

Actually, the kick-down point is very clear.

:?: :?: :?: :?:

Actually the Mitsubishi iMiEV (which a lot of the components of the PHEV are based on) has this "lump" in the accelerator which is only active when you put the "gear" shifter into "Eco" (it has 3 forward settings, "Drive", "Eco" and "Brake"). So in the iMiEV in "Eco" it feels like you've floored the accelerator about 1/2 way down, but if you really need it you can push past this "lump". They could have easily transferred this feature into the PHEV, however I suspect some marketing type decided it was not user friendly. What a pity.

So .. by default there is no "kick-down"

It is there only after putting in the vtech box :?:

Every day it is possible to learn one more "miss" from the Mitsubishi designers .. ECO mode not really ECO ... having the kick down pedal, and not using it .. ICE start for heat up that everybody want to avoid, etc etc ...

 

[anko]

As I said and Jaap confirmed: there is a kick down. You need to learn to find it.

 

[jaapv]

Actually, the kick-down point is very clear.

:?: :?: :?: :?:

Actually the Mitsubishi iMiEV (which a lot of the components of the PHEV are based on) has this "lump" in the accelerator which is only active when you put the "gear" shifter into "Eco" (it has 3 forward settings, "Drive", "Eco" and "Brake"). So in the iMiEV in "Eco" it feels like you've floored the accelerator about 1/2 way down, but if you really need it you can push past this "lump". They could have easily transferred this feature into the PHEV, however I suspect some marketing type decided it was not user friendly. What a pity.

So .. by default there is no "kick-down"

It is there only after putting in the vtech box :?:

Every day it is possible to learn one more "miss" from the Mitsubishi designers .. ECO mode not really ECO ... having the kick down pedal, and not using it .. ICE start for heat up that everybody want to avoid, etc etc ...

No, the kick-down is always there. Not everybody wants to avoid the start-up in cold weather. I personally appreciate it as I like warm feet in the morning - and if I want to avoid it I will use pre-heat. I get the strong impression that your "design misses" are more generated by personal preferences and misconceptions than by the design of the car.

 

[elm70]

As I said and Jaap confirmed: there is a kick down. You need to learn to find it.

If I never felt it .. it means it is not there .. or it is way down for give even extra power .. still I did floor few times for check the "power" of my PHEV

Never felt any feedback from the pedal

Definitely there is nothing in ECO mode between EV power and ICE start